Robert Horry arguably is the NBA’s all-time greatest role player, given his contributions to seven championship teams spread over three franchises. If his role Monday was to provide scorching hot takes for ESPN, Horry proved pretty great at that too, taking unexpected shots at a pair of highly regarded former teammates, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.
It’s one thing to posit that Hakeem Olajuwon was a better player than Duncan, but Horry took things several steps further on “The Jump,” not only declaring that the former Rockets center was massively superior, but also appearing to question the Spurs great’s “work ethic” and late-game trustworthiness. Later in the segment, he seemed to imply that it was incompetence on the part of Ginobili that cost San Antonio multiple titles.
Perhaps the “Jump” panel, including host Rachel Nichols and former players Paul Pierce and Stephen Jackson, should have seen the habañero-grade opinions coming, given that Horry was wearing a coat decorated with tacos. Nevertheless, the trio was taken aback when Horry, who won two titles with both the Rockets and Spurs, in addition to three with the Lakers (making him the only player not associated with the 1960s Celtics to earn seven rings), casually tossed this remark into an anecdote about his playing days: “Dream was 20 times better than Tim Duncan.”
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Asked to explain that assertion, Horry replied “See, I’ve played with both. I know the work ethic of both, so I’ve seen it live.” That had Nichols exclaiming in disbelief, “Wait, did you just take a shot at Tim Duncan’s work ethic?”
Horry offered an initial denial, then praised the work ethic of former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant as “the best ever,” before clarifying that he meant to compliment Olajuwon rather than demean Duncan. “I’ve seen these two guys in the gym. I know what Dream brought to practice. I know what Tim brought to practice,” he said.
“I know Tim, he brought work ethic to practice, but it’s an extra level,” Horry continued. “When you’re a superstar, you have to go the extra level. Not saying Tim’s not a superstar, but what Dream brought to the game is amazing.”
Horry went on to assert, “I don’t think people understand how good Olajuwon was,” a sentiment with which many basketball aficionados could agree. But he ventured back into questionable territory when he said, “I always tell people, you judge a player by what they cannot do. Who would you want on the line at the end of the game, Dream or Tim Duncan?”
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“Tim Duncan,” Jackson, who won a ring with the 2003 Spurs, replied, to which Horry said, “You going to go with 85 percent, or you going to go with 70 percent from the free throw line?”
It’s unclear why Horry was citing those figures, given that Olajuwon was a .712 free throw shooter in the regular season, with a .719 mark in the playoffs, numbers not much better than Duncan’s (.696, .689). Horry also neglected to mention that Duncan was the centerpiece of five championship teams, while Olajuwon, with Horry’s help, won two rings.
Pierce, however, claimed that Olajuwon was fortunate to even have that pair of titles, noting that they came during the break in Michael Jordan’s Bulls career when the six-time champion was pursuing a goal of playing professional baseball. First, though, the recently retired Clipper, who won his own ring with the 2007-08 Celtics, said, “Dream was awesome, unbelievable. But he was not 20 times better than Tim Duncan. Not 20 times!”
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Horry responded with, “I’m saying you would rather have Dream at the free throw line at the end of a game, and you’re down.”
“Dream is lucky Jordan retired,” Pierce replied. “You would only have five rings if Jordan didn’t retire.”
That’s when Horry delivered yet another unsolicited shot at a widely respected former teammate, telling Pierce, “Let me just say this: You got yours because, if Manu Ginobili would have did the things he was supposed to do, I would have had like 10 championships.”
Horry was apparently referencing the 2008 playoffs, in which the Lakers topped Ginobili, Horry and San Antonio en route to a Finals loss to Pierce’s Boston squad. He seemed to be blaming the Argentinean icon for stymieing two other championship runs for the Spurs.
Ginobili, a four-time titlist who is mulling retirement, and Duncan offered little, if anything, to criticize over their NBA careers, let alone accusations of being mistake-prone and relatively lax in preparation. But Horry seems to have arrived at the “Jump” set determined to give new meaning to his nickname, “Big Shot Bob.”
(H/T For the Win)
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